1 Answer
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What does the Cpu(s) line show? If you don't see a responsible process it probably shows an increase in wa. Is this right?

Also, leave this running while you try to connect and post it if you can: vmstat 1.

Do note the load average in Linux isn't actually directly related to CPU use in the obvious userspace meaning. It's actually linked to processes waiting in the run queue (processes that could run if the scheduler let them), and so tasks blocked due to I/O are counted in.

An idle computer has a load number of
0 and each process using or waiting
for CPU (the ready queue or run queue)
increments the load number by 1. Most
UNIX systems count only processes in
the running (on CPU) or runnable
(waiting for CPU) states. However,
Linux also includes processes in
uninterruptible sleep states (usually
waiting for disk activity), which can
lead to markedly different results if
many processes remain blocked in I/O
due to a busy or stalled I/O system.
This, for example, includes processes
blocking due to an NFS server failure
or to slow media (e.g., USB 1.x
storage devices). Such circumstances
can result in an elevated load
average, which does not reflect an
actual increase in CPU use (but still
gives an idea on how long users have
to wait).